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NCAA member institutions began to have the option to provide unlimited meals and snacks to athletes in 2014, and this change in policy created a need for full-time registered dietitians (RDs). This position was necessary to ensure athletes were receiving proper nutritional guidance. This has created a professional niche for RDs as they are now considered to be a key member of the college athlete holistic care team. However, there is a lack of research exploring the experiences and challenges of this emerging profession in college athletic departments. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the career experiences of RDs working in NCAA Division I athletic departments. Nine RDs participated in semi-structured interviews, and three themes were constructed from the data analysis: (a) professional transition; (b) nutritional education; and (c) (dis)respect. The respondents discussed their participation in sport or volunteer experience was what pushed them to pursue a career as a sports dietitian. One of the primary functions of their position is to build trust with the athletes and provide them with nutritional education so they will develop healthy eating habits. The respondents also struggled with a lack of acceptance of the importance of their position on the interprofessional care team. Some have positive experiences with administrators, but most have negative experiences and a general lack of understanding of the professional expertise they had. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mental health in sport has come to the forefront of NCAA initiatives amid repeated instances of diminished mental health among athletes. As student-athletes spend many hours in their team environments, it is important to consider how the team environment influences their mental health. Therefore, a qualitative research design was implemented using semi-structured interviews with 12 female student-athletes from NCAA Division I institutions to explore their mental health experiences within their team environments. Three themes were constructed from the data analysis: words matter, mental integration, and culture. The findings, interpreted through the lens of ecological system theory, suggest that mesolevel interactions, or interactions between individuals, can create a team environment that prioritizes or ignores student-athlete mental health. These findings have practical implications for coaches, administrators, and sport stakeholders regarding additional steps that need to be taken to inform the holistic care of student-athletes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are unique aspects of the collegiate athletic culture that can increase the risk for mental health concerns among student-athletes. Athletic trainers, due to the amount of time spent with student-athletes, are considered a key member of student-athletes’ holistic care team. Athletic trainers are many times the first point of mental health referrals for student-athletes, so this study sought to understand athletic trainers’ own perceptions of their role in the mental health care of student-athletes. Eight participants from Southeastern Conference institutions participated in semi-structured interviews. Three themes were constructed from the data analysis: (a) first line of defense, (b) holistic care team, and (c) scope of practice. Athletic trainers understood their role as distinct from mental health professionals but called for more specific training in recognizing mental health concerns and appropriate referral practices within interprofessional teams, so that they could stay within their scope of practice. Understanding the athletic trainers’ perception of their role on interprofessional care teams in addressing student)athlete mental health offers insights how to best structure mental health services in collegiate athletic departments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International college students face psychosocial adjustment challenges transitioning into college, which may be heightened for international student-athletes (ISAs) who also have to adjust to Division I (DI) athletics. Even so, there are limited articles that synthesize the research on this population. Thus, we sought to fill this gap by examining studies focused on the adjustment experiences of ISAs. A qualitative interpretive meta-synthesis is a method used in social work research to synthesize the findings of qualitative studies (Aguirre & Bolton, 2014). We used qualitative interpretive meta-synthesis to conduct an exhaustive search of the literature, construct themes, and synthesize themes of qualitative research regarding ISAs and their adjustment experiences. We identified 11 articles with three overarching themes: (a) acculturative stress, (b) adjustment to the college experience, and (c) adjustment to athletics in the United States. Findings suggest ISAs experience not only transitional stress related to their identities as a student and as an athlete but also from their acculturation experiences. Thus, we propose ISAs transitioning to college experience a ternary-or three way-role negotiation of student identity, athlete identity, and cultural identity. Social workers employed at Division I institutions and within Division I athletic departments have the opportunity to advocate for the needs of this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Student–athletes are a vulnerable population who face many unique stressors and often engage in risky physical behaviours. Understanding that high levels of health literacy (HL) can lead to improved health knowledge and decreased negative health outcomes, the purpose of this study was to assess the HL of both student–athletes and their non‐athlete peers attending NCAA Division I, II and III institutions. Specifically, guided by Nutbeam's (2000) framework of HL, we assessed functional, communicative and critical HL in 205 student–athletes and 205 non‐athlete students using the All Aspects of Health Literacy Scale. Compared to non‐athletes, student–athletes had lower functional HL (b = 0.20; p <.001; d = 0.21), lower communicative HL (b = 0.12; p <.01; d = 0.13) and higher critical HL (b = 0.11; p <.05; d = 0.11). These findings suggest that additional interventions may be needed to increase the self‐sufficiency of student–athletes to care for personal physical health. As social work in sport is an emerging subspecialty of the profession, social workers may consider increased involvement in advocating for this group by working with individuals, coaches and teams to decrease stigma in requesting health services, attending to the complexity of interacting systems and stressors in student–athletes' lives in therapeutic interventions, and connecting them to empowering health education resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social workers are beginning to be hired in collegiate athletic departments to meet the holistic needs of student-athletes. The limited research that has examined social work practice in sport has not explicitly explored ways in which social work values manifest in practice. The current study explored how the values of the social work profession are applied when providing mental and behavioral health services in collegiate athletics. Using a qualitative design, nine licensed social workers employed in athletic departments were interviewed. Data were deductively coded using the NASW (2017) Code of Ethics' six values: service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence. Social workers recognized studentathletes as a vulnerable population, worked on social justice issues, placed an emphasis on the diversity of student-athletes, built relationships with both student-athletes and sport staff, and advocated for social work values in athletics. They also called for more opportunities to increase knowledge of social work practice in sport settings. Results support the need for social work programs to prepare students for careers in sport through efforts such as offering elective courses related to social work practice in sport and providing sport-specific practicum opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]